The Kathryn J.R. Swanson Public Service Award

The Kathryn J.R. Swanson Public Service Award honors an individual who has made notable
improvements in the management or implementation of a highway safety program or policy, or
provided outstanding service to GHSA, federal safety agencies or other national highway safety
organizations. About Kathryn J.R. Swanson

2008 Winner: Philip W. Haseltine

The inaugural Kathryn J.R. Swanson Public Service Award
is presented to Phil Haseltine for his lifetime of service to
highway safety.

Swanson was a dedicated public servant whose strong
commitment to highway safety guided her throughout her
career. Haseltine embodies what Swanson most passionately
stood for: occupant protection, sensible solutions to saving
lives and strengthening safety organizations to achieve
ambitious goals.

Haseltine has enjoyed a successful highway safety career
spanning four decades. Throughout his career, Haseltine
has consistently provided outstanding service to GHSA,
federal safety agencies, and national and local highway
safety organizations across the country and has been at the
forefront of responding to many different highway safety
challenges.

Haseltine began his career in highway safety with the
Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, where he
worked for 13 years, serving as the executive director from
1979 to 1983. While serving as director of the Michigan office,
Haseltine became involved with the National Association
of Governors Highway Safety Representatives (NAGHSR),
now the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA).
His colleagues elected him chairman of the organization, a
position he held for three terms.

Haseltine was instrumental in starting up the annual
Lifesavers Highway Safety Conference, which just celebrated
its 26th anniversary. The first Lifesavers conference was
held in Michigan under his leadership. His efforts have
been significant in helping Lifesavers become a major
annual traffic safety event with more than 2,000 attendees,
and he continues to be an active member of the Lifesavers
Planning Committee.

As GHSA chairman,
Haseltine
also took a lead
role in advancing
the national highway
safety agenda in Washington,
DC. In 1983, Haseltine's leadership and
expertise in national highway safety policy led to his
being named the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Transportation
for Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Department
of Transportation. He held this position until 1988.
In this role, Haseltine testified on Capitol Hill advocating a
wide range of highway safety laws and programs.

During this same period, Haseltine helped then Secretary of
Transportation Elizabeth H. Dole craft the landmark federal
safety standard that required air bags and encouraged states
to pass safety belt and child passenger safety laws.

Following his service to Secretary Dole, Haseltine served
as Chief of Staff to U.S. DOT Secretary James Burnley. As
Chief of Staff, he was responsible for transition issues and
he supervised staff in the Office of the Secretary.
He functioned as the liaison between the Secretary's office
and the White House as well as the operating agencies
within the Department of Transportation.

In 1988, Haseltine became president of the Automotive
Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS) in Washington, DC. As
President of ACTS, he directed the organization's efforts
to educate policymakers, lawmakers and the public about
motor vehicle occupant protection and other traffic safety
issues.

Haseltine is well-known for his ability to bring together
disparate groups to address difficult safety issues and has
hosted numerous leadership conferences on increasing
seat belt and child restraint use. He served as moderator
for the U.S. DOT's Blue Ribbon Panel on Child Restraints
and Vehicle Compatibility, which is credited with the
introduction of LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers
for Children). He also moderated a second Blue Ribbon
Panel: Protecting Our Older Child Passengers, which
encouraged states to enact booster seat laws.

In 2005, Haseltine was asked to serve as the manager
of state legislative activities for the National Safety
Council's Air Bag and Seat Belt Safety Campaign, where
he went on to serve as executive director. In this role,
Haseltine was influential in helping states pass primary
enforcement safety belt laws, and he traveled the country
to testify in front of state legislatures. He also did much
of the "grunt work" that is required to successfully enact
safety legislature. He made the calls, wrote the letters
and organized the coalitions. He recently retired from
ACTS and the Campaign, but not before getting to see
Mississippi and Alaska enact primary seat belt laws
thanks in part to his tireless dedication to the cause.

Haseltine also worked to keep tweens safely restrained
in the back of vehicles and raised the very serious safety
issue of unattended kids in and around cars. In the
summer of 2007, he launched a public information and
education campaign to help prevent children from being
left in hot cars and backed over in their driveways. The
campaign was based on the nation's first research with
parents on this important issue.

Like Kathy Swanson, public service and dedication to
traffic safety have been hallmarks of Haseltine's career.
Both his public leadership and behind-the-scenes work
have led to numerous safety advances and lives being
saved.